Knightmare n - Choose Your Own Adventure

[Beltane]

Hey all! I don't know how many of you will remember me bumbling about here a few months back, but over the holiday season I woven my character, monsters, and room work into this: Level 1 of an interactive Knightmare story. Feel totally free to give it a try and I'd love to know what you all think!

Knightmare n is my hypothetical ideal series of Knightmare: early in its run so there's lots of indoor rooms, and where the Powers That Be and Opposition haven't crystalised yet.

[Librase]

I've only had a quick flick through it, but it's very enjoyable and true to the spirit of Knightmare! I found the art aspect interesting - it's not often I see ethically-produced AI art.

It would be nice if you could track things like life force and inventory, but it's not essential (the way you have it is quite true to the format of choose-your-own-adventure books, except you can't really scribble on the screen).

[Beltane]

I've only had a quick flick through it, but it's very enjoyable and true to the spirit of Knightmare! I found the art aspect interesting - it's not often I see ethically-produced AI art.

It would be nice if you could track things like life force and inventory, but it's not essential (the way you have it is quite true to the format of choose-your-own-adventure books, except you can't really scribble on the screen).

Thank you so much, and I'm glad you had fun with it!

I wish I could incorporate an actual tick-down of the Life Force, and to have a little notebook section at the side where your inventory is kept would be awesome, so maybe those are ideas to shelve for if and when I come back to this.

[ArchaicDevice]

This feels like a more detailed version of the challenges at the back of the Knightmare books, which is nice. It's interesting to have something that feels like it was written for a slightly older audience.

It's also fun to see people making use of AI art generation for things like this. It's never going to replace professional artists entirely but it does open a lot of options for fan-creations. I've used it myself to make elements for larger images but never anything this extensive. You must have spent a lot of time trying out different prompts!

I wish I could incorporate an actual tick-down of the Life Force, and to have a little notebook section at the side where your inventory is kept would be awesome, so maybe those are ideas to shelve for if and when I come back to this.

There are some online tools designed for this sort of thing. Try taking a look at something like Squiffy.

https://textadventures.co.uk/squiffy

A friend of mine has been using it for an extensive fan-game project based on their Dragonriders of Pern fan-fiction. If you want to see an example of how it can be used, try it out at https://www.dragonchoice.com/you-choose/ and take a look at the inventory / stat/ quest tracker on the left side of the screen while playing.

Another option is to wrap it in a simple game engine that can be embedded in a web page so it plays like a visual novel. That would make good use of art assets and allow you to track and display variables.

[Beltane]

This feels like a more detailed version of the challenges at the back of the Knightmare books, which is nice. It's interesting to have something that feels like it was written for a slightly older audience.

Thank you very much! How far did you get?

It's also fun to see people making use of AI art generation for things like this. It's never going to replace professional artists entirely but it does open a lot of options for fan-creations. I've used it myself to make elements for larger images but never anything this extensive. You must have spent a lot of time trying out different prompts!

I did, and I like the style i found! Most of these images were based on the prompt "dark highly detailed french fantasy illustrator" if you're curious! Just add extras like "prison entrance", "marsh with a bridge", "stone room with two archways", that sort of thing.

I wish I could incorporate an actual tick-down of the Life Force, and to have a little notebook section at the side where your inventory is kept would be awesome, so maybe those are ideas to shelve for if and when I come back to this.

There are some online tools designed for this sort of thing. Try taking a look at something like Squiffy.

https://textadventures.co.uk/squiffy

Oh sure, thanks!

A friend of mine has been using it for an extensive fan-game project based on their Dragonriders of Pern fan-fiction. If you want to see an example of how it can be used, try it out at https://www.dragonchoice.com/you-choose/ and take a look at the inventory / stat/ quest tracker on the left side of the screen while playing.

Another option is to wrap it in a simple game engine that can be embedded in a web page so it plays like a visual novel. That would make good use of art assets and allow you to track and display variables.

That could be good! What do you mean by 'simple game engine'? What would I be looking for?

[ArchaicDevice]

Thank you very much! How far did you get?

Not far yet, I'm going to sit down with it tomorrow night and try a few playthroughs.

That could be good! What do you mean by 'simple game engine'? What would I be looking for?

You could use a visual novel creator, like Tyranno. I played around with that one when it first came out and they've updated it a lot since then.

You've also seen my game project. The engine is versatile enough to just do image backgrounds with text overlays and choices. It's also good for tracking all sorts of variables in the background. Mine is heavily modded, so I'm having some trouble getting it to work online but I did have an old prototype hosted that way for playtesting.

[Greystagg]

This is great! I enjoyed playing through the different scenarios. There's a lot to it and an intriguing feeling to the "paths not taken" since you can't possibly see everything on a single playthrough! There's still at least one more spell that I haven't worked out how to collect.

Looking forward to seeing more. Like someone else said, it fits in really well with the style of the games in the back of the books.

[Beltane]

This is great! I enjoyed playing through the different scenarios. There's a lot to it and an intriguing feeling to the "paths not taken" since you can't possibly see everything on a single playthrough! There's still at least one more spell that I haven't worked out how to collect.

Looking forward to seeing more. Like someone else said, it fits in really well with the style of the games in the back of the books.

Thank you so much for your kind words - I was definitely trying to make it feel as authentic as possible. I'm glad that all the routes are tempting! Did you get all the way through to level 2?

[Greystagg]

Thank you so much for your kind words - I was definitely trying to make it feel as authentic as possible. I'm glad that all the routes are tempting! Did you get all the way through to level 2?

I did - thanks to some lucky dice rolls! Yes, I tried several routes. I did wonder whether some of the choice options were deliberate traps (like in the first KM book where it tries to catch you out with "turn to page x to use [item you can't possibly have picked up]") but they all seemed legitimate! Still can't find the MOUSE spell though.

I hope you continue with level 2 and 3!

[Beltane]

I did - thanks to some lucky dice rolls! Yes, I tried several routes. I did wonder whether some of the choice options were deliberate traps (like in the first KM book where it tries to catch you out with "turn to page x to use [item you can't possibly have picked up]") but they all seemed legitimate! Still can't find the MOUSE spell though.

I hope you continue with level 2 and 3!

Thanks for the feedback! Oh yes - there was one where you're invited to use a pair of sunglasses to see in a room with a... sun lion, I think?

Sorceress Orphia gives you the MOUSE spell under some conditions